MRSA scare !

I'm pretty sure that over the years there has been. When I first started as an EN I don't remember all that many; now we have a whole section on our ward specifically identified for MRSA patients. And that is just our ward. I know you are talking Community Acquired - its not differentiated for us; you either have it or you don't. And basically we isolate ppl who have had it until they have been cleared.

I don't understand parent's panic though. As I understand it, MRSA usually is found with ppl who are diabetic, immunocompromised, or who have had many antibiotics etc. Most ppl don't come into that category. Could it be due to the media hyping things up? Maybe an education programme is required; if anything just to encourage children to be brought up with a healthy diet and exercise.

Are the parents aware of a child who has had MRSA and treating that child as a pariah?

There are increasing case of kids with Mrsa usually a skin infection and ear infections. The kids aren't necessarily immunocompromised.(sp)

Drug-resistant organisms are fast becoming the norm. I am getting a bit irritated at the media turning this into a panic.

Drug-resistant organisms are fast becoming the norm. I am getting a bit irritated at the media turning this into a panic.

DITTO

Hi, I am new to this site. Just recently moved here in TX. Yes, we get a lot of MRSA patient in our unit. It takes so much of your time wearing PPE in each MRSA patient you come in contact with but it is better safe though. Just yesterday I had two patients on contact isolation. One is MRSA and the other is VRE.

Anyway, I heard the same news that is apparently spreading in schools??? Don't know who started the issue but yeah they can spread that organism around if they have a family member living in the same roof who is ill, not detected and is not treated at all.

Tell parents and kids the best way to avoid the spread of this microscopic germ is to..."ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS."

Nothing to be scared, just live a healthy and Clean life!

I agree that the media hype is scaring people to death. Every pimple and infected hair follicle is now suspect.

I have seen it in the clinic in the last year or so. Usually the CA-MRSA lesions get really big, red, and painful fast. I haven't had any that wasn't treatable in the clinic.

DITTO

What they should be doing, instead of playing up the sensationalism, is instructing the public why this is a problem in the first place. I'd like to see serious reports on the over-use of antibiotics in our food supply; how important it is to take antibiotics as ordered (not just til you "feel better") and for God's sake, to STOP demanding an antibiotic for every damned sniffle--- that's the reporting I'd like to see.

All those years of irresponsible antibiotic use...It's all coming home to roost. And it's only going to get worse.

i could not agree more!!!! i have had at least 2-3 patients every time i clock in that has mrsa somewhere. it has been this way for at least the last 7-8 years. i just dread now finding a patient with mrsa and having to tell their family members what organism it is. i guess i could look at it like as being entertainment watching them freak out and stomp their feet while they are on the phone with everyone they know explaining how their family member will die of mrsa!!

drug-resistant organisms are fast becoming the norm. i am getting a bit irritated at the media turning this into a panic.

i just dread now finding a patient with mrsa and having to tell their family members what organism it is.

exactly.

thanks, cnn :stone

I have seen it so frequently that all boils are presumed MRSA now. Nothing a good old I and D cant take care of.

In regards to the panicking families in the schools, I've been doing a lot of explaining that sometimes a mosquito bite is just a mosquito bite.

In my experience, it's "MRSA, C-diff, VRE....same story, different day, different patient". An unfortunate occurrance to have soooooooo many cases.

You know what really bothers me about all this? When the visitors(who come to see a patient in the hospital who has an active case of one of the superbugs) actually argue(!!) and resist when told they have to wear the isolation gowns/ gloves/masks while visiting the patient, even after you've educated them that it's for their protection, as well as the patient's, other visitors & patients, and the staffs protection. As if we are trying to inconvenience them!! Or the visitors who, after being educated to remove the isolation gear & wash their hands before leaving a patient's room, attempt to do the opposite because they are: only going to the bathroom just down the hall; going to get a drink; or stepping just outside the patient room to answer their cell phone, etc. And then when you catch them and politely tell them that the isolation garb can't be worn outside the patient's room, they give you more of an attitude. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!